


the numbers of giving up

by falterth



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-20 23:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14272212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falterth/pseuds/falterth
Summary: The weary shinobi of Konohagakure gather in a small circle.Naruto closes his eyes and tries not to hate.





	the numbers of giving up

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys idk what this is either

ONE

 

Naruto sees them crowding in and around. He feels Sasuke’s phantom hand on his shoulder, feels Sakura’s not-self pressed up against him. Their eyes stare out from the mirror and their faces are twin mockeries of all that used to be.

He is outside of the old thing he used to call his home. Now the windows of the house, like two gaunt and sunken eyes, peer at him from behind their shutter-eyelids. The house’s paint is peeling like sallow skin. He remembers that once, dynamic and fiery colors used to eagerly drape themselves across every single wall and window of the building. Now the sun has stolen their life and the railing on the porch is broken, and the wooden steps are cracked, and the front door is missing.

Two words circle each other inside of Naruto’s head like yin and yang.

Total destruction. 

Forget what Orochimaru did. This is Konoha crushed. 

Forget what Nagato (under the barbed-wire alias) did. _This_ is Konoha’s end. 

Because Naruto looks out and out, and his eyes devour until they are full to bursting, but he can see no fires burning bright.

 

TWO

 

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

Naruto stops, and gives Sasuke a long look. He can hear Sakura pretending to make a meal in the next tent over. He knows that she’s really just listening and waiting because no matter how much time has passed, Konoha has always been her home.

“No. Of course not. I saw the house, though. It was—not a house anymore.”

“Hmmn.” 

Naruto laughs, but it’s a breathy one without much substance. He sees Sakura duck into their tent and he pulls her and Sasuke close so that he can chase the cold from his chest and forget about a thrice-broken village.

In the middle of the raggedy camp, someone coughs.

 

THREE

 

The world is decaying at Naruto’s fingertips. He can see the dirt and grime that is caked underneath his nails.

His lips are so dirty that he dares to kiss no one except for on the cheek, or the hand, or sometimes on the shoulder if Sakura and Sasuke are close and he has just broken free of the nightmare-jail. They are marred by soiled promises, and by ideals that he has let down. It tastes like sweat and grime. He does not wet his mouth anymore.

Nobody speaks.

The world is quiet when one is prey.

 

FOUR

 

 

The weary shinobi of Konohagakure gather in a small circle.

A bonfire burns high and proud, and the seals hiding the camp have been deactivated.

Naruto’s grip on Sakura’s hand is tight. Sasuke is standing behind the both of them, and his arms are holding them close to his body. Somebody takes a slow breath. It’ll be minutes—ten, fifteen, but maybe only one or two—before the remains of Akatsuki come to kill them. Madara will be leading them, and Obito will be there at his heel like a faithful . . .

Like a _foaming-at-the-mouth_ dog who would love to turn around to bite his master.

Naruto wishes that he hadn’t been talked into running away, because if he had stayed, maybe he’d have been able to do _something._ Something to prevent this mindless fear of discovery, of death, of the faces-in-the-night. The air stinks of it these days. Even if nobody has died in the past few weeks—they all stink because they fear and welcome it in equal measures.

He supposes that it’s been long enough.

Naruto closes his eyes and tries not to hate.


End file.
